Steamers Early Lead Enough in Win Over Peninsula

Updated July 31 2017

EDENTON, N.C.

The Edenton Steamers (27-22, 10-11) used an early lead to propel them to a 7-4 victory over the Peninsula Pilots (28-21, 12-9).

The Steamers opened up the scoring in the third inning with one of their biggest innings of the season. The Clams picked up six runs on five hits to take a 6-0 lead. This included a James Battley two-run home run and a Billy Wilson RBI single.

Wilson came around to score in the fifth inning on an error by Peninsula to make it 7-0. With the run, Wilson got number 50 on the season to set a new franchise record for the Steamers.

Peninsula charged back in the fifth when Drew Delsignore hit his league-leading 14th home run of the year to cut the lead to five. He was the last batter for Edenton starter John Arel. Arel went 5.1 innings while giving up two runs on four hits and striking out a season-high 10 batters. This was the second double digit strikeout performance of the season for Edenton.

The Steamers followed with scoreless outings from Josh Steele, Sean Hughes and Nick Martinez. The three pitchers combined for no hits and five strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work.

As usual, the Pilots did not go down without a fight. Kelvan Pilot walked two and gave up a hit in the ninth to allow Peninsula to load the bases. Johnathan Embry was the final batter that Pilot faced after he walked him to bring home a run to make it 7-3.

After the outing by Pilot, the Clams turned to Chris Ayers to close it down for Edenton. In his first outing since high school, Ayers gave up a sacrifice fly to make it 7-4. He would, however, get the next batter to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to end the ballgame.

John Arel (1-1) got the win for Edenton and Kyle Hinton (4-1) got his first loss of the season for Peninsula. Outfielder Chris Ayers (1) picked up the save for the Steamers in his first outing.

The Teal and Black will be back in action tomorrow night at Historic Hicks Field against Peninsula once again. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m.

The Edenton Steamers are proudly celebrating their 20th anniversary season as a member of the Coastal Plain League in 2017. Be sure to follow the Teal and Black on social media to stay up to date with all things Steamers. You can find the team on Facebook @EdentonSteamers, Twitter @EdentonCPL, Instagram @edentonsteamers, and Snapchat @edentonsteamers. For more information visit edentonsteamers.com or call (252) 482-4080.

The Coastal Plain League is the nation’s premier summer collegiate baseball league. Celebrating its 22nd season in 2018, the CPL features 16 teams playing in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The CPL has had over 1,450 alumni drafted and 109 of those – including 2011 AL MVP and Cy Young winner Justin Verlander – make their Major League debut; while another notable alum – Russell Wilson – won Super Bowl XLVIII. For more information on the Coastal Plain League, please visit the league website at www.coastalplain.com and follow us via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat @CPLBaseball..